Benin

Hmmm, sounds like the Southern parks need to bloody sort out their PA systems...TURN THEM DOWN!

Ever been to Oakwood? You can barely hear Megaphobia going along...Same thing for many other wooden coasters around the world, at Towers, I doubt any wooden coaster would be louder than Nemesis...And again, it's an incorrect viewpoint from guests that wooden coasters are 'unsafe'... They aren't... Unfortunately it seems unless one of the 'smaller' parks such as Flamingoland or Drayton take a so called 'risk' and build a beautiful GCI we will never see one here...A build it and they will come thing is always true about parks... A new wooden coaster would draw in crowds because it's a new ride... Look at how some American parks have invested in GCI and Intamin wooden coasters, they are not unsafe, but due to the relatively narrow UK experience of wooden coasters, being stuck with customer surveys and basing new additions on such things results in not building something simple yet full of potential quality... I'm sick and tired of attractions always being some World's First crap... Just build something with love and quality for once, and you won't get a Thirteen situation...Oh, and the original SW6 Wooden coaster was cancelled due to planning permission issues... Not as a bottle job (as would be the case these days)...

Basically, from all that...Eisner I know not all rides make it off the drawing board, but it sounds like such a sad story about the way in which an area which sounded like something that would frankly blow Expedition Everest away (which is also having massive trouble, so I can imagine similar things would happen with that dragon), might never see the light of day...Kinda shows how Disney and other companies work as well... Great article... Any others?

This is why the UK actually NEEDS a new Wooden coaster, because basically until the GP realise that the only wooden coasters in the world aren't at Blackpool or Gwazi (generally the most likely ridden ones for average guests) and have these generally false views on them, we won't see stuff like Prowler and Mountain Flyer ever built here...Plus, Wooden coasters are just as noisy as steel coasters... Such an urban myth that they are loud...

Epic Eurofighter is epic...

Is that Merlin's slogan?

Rain? Pah, me and John manned up and went to Chessie, although lots of train issues meant that we arrived after 10:30, but, we arrived to an empty park...So Vampire's PA is still too bloody loud... I swear Chessie cannot sort these out, as now they seem to have several that are too quiet... So you're either too loud, or too quiet... Tuk Tuk Turmoil can't be heard for example... Sort it out...Due to the rain, Fury and Rattlesnake were both on 2 people per car... URGH... Why does Chessie have to follow so many rubbishy H&S rules in comparison to the other parks? Buccaneer still has silly rules as well...Why does Griffin's Galleon NOT have it's ride music and pre-recorded announcements?Fair few breakdowns, Sea Dragons down for most of the day (apparently they can't use the hoover in the rain anymore), Truckers was dead at the start of the day, Seastorm and Carousel both died at one point, Skyway down throughout the rain (unsurprisingly)... All however did open before the park shut...Why did no-one mention there's a new Spike show? It's usual stuff but still, NEW!Squirt-a-lot's new SFX are random...New fence has been put into Wanyama, as well as red tape returning which hasn't been seen since it opened, possible new arrivals in the future?Hocus Pocus Hall still closed...Erm, I think that's all the 'interesting' stuff... All in all it was a good day as it was empty and generally had walk-ons on everything but Fury and Rattlesnake... Actually went on Skyway and Seastorm for the first times this year... Good fun day regardless of the rain...

Oh lol...Hello BOGOFs...Actually, would be interesting to see how many guests actually pay full price... But still... It's over the 40 quid mark now, surely eventually people will start saying, "it's too expensive to go"...

Yes...Merlin putting investment into something for a quick return? NEVER!

Did not know it closed, but then again, I don't care... You do around the exit of the gift shop as the ticket office is in the same place... Literally is between Aquarium and McDonalds in County Hall...

It's right in County Hall, seeing the people go to Starbucks on their break is amusing...But no idea if it's any good... Never been in... Plus, this is not the same as Pasaje del Terror, though there is now one at Trocadero, which is technically the NEWEST horror maze attraction in London (as it opened last year)...

Hahahahahahahaha...This video says very differently...

Thirteen Live NOT returning? Who has said this and where do I find them so they can be strangled?Honestly, it worked incredibly well, unless it's some crap about having to pay the actors too much... They improved the queue-line no question... I'd rather Thirteen have actors than Hex... Unless they actually attempt to do a story with Hex (what I heard from last time they did it, actors running around does no constitute a well done attraction)...And Skelvin (compared to 2009 Duel Live) was also dire... Towers took one step forward and two back last year I felt in the case of on park stuff...

It's an au natural splash...The designers made the boat's shape in such a way to create the splash of that size, and it's similar for other rides of it's type, though Tidal Wave is probs one of the bigger splashes I've seen on these ride types...

Blackpool has a Halloween event? First I've heard of it tbh...I think it's all dependant on what you want from a Halloween event, as each park actually does a fair attempt at their own version of it...Chessie's has the best overall Halloween theming... They really do attempt to transform the park in comparison to Thorpe and Towers, which do barely anything to actually theme the rides... In fact, the only things that are really themed to Halloween are their mazes... But on the other hand, Chessie's attractions for Halloween aren't really amazing... Hocus Pocus Hall last year was it's usual Halloween self (which is decent), but Black Forest Haunt was dire... I hear they are interested in returning the shipping container maze this year after Vamp's birthday... Which means another attraction which is a good thing...Towers I've been the last two years and as mentioned earlier, there's minimal extra theming added... There was some more last year but not a lot... Thirteen was vastly improved with the night-time actors, but Duel Live last year was appaulling compared to the awesome 2009 version...Now because mazes aren't my thing, I don't do them, so I discount them from this... But, Nemesis in the dark is most definitely worth everything...Thorpe again is very similar to Towers, lots of mazes, very busy, minimal extra theming (last time I went there was... NONE)... So to me it's about on the same scale as Towers' event... And hence only worth it for the rides in the dark... Or at least the rides at Thorpe I like...Though in the end, last time I went to Fright Nights I had my worst ever trip to Thorpe, so that's kinda against it...So in the end, just for sheer effort at actually trying to transform the park (and not just by adding Midnight Syndicate everywhere), the winner for me, is Chessie...

Rammie usually sends people around twice (unless there's a massive queue, which is rare)...It's all operator dependant as well, since they choose what setting it goes onto, and the few times I platformed it they always swapped after the first 'slow' setting...Though I dunno why they don't just put it on a 'major' setting and give everyone one go on that... I really don't understand Chessie's way of operating rides sometimes...

Depends WHICH Bubbleworks you mean...If you mean the current version, then no sane enthusiast 'raves' about it... It's horrible...If you mean the old version, then anti-climatic? Usually when people say good things about Bubbleworks, it's in relation to the original Prof Burps version, not the sponsored turd that exists now...

Can someone get rid of that stupid image amount restrictions please... It's bloody annoying when you have to triple post one section of your trip report...

Brilliant way of doing the water and making it see-through for the extra details at the bottom... TROLLLLLLLLL!I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting... It’s very awesome even if you have no interest in model railways and the like... It’s just full of win and deserves more recognition...Anyways, that finished, we elected for lunch, and due to knowing about the so called Roller-coaster restaurant in the city (sort of), we had planned a route there and headed back to the Hauptbahnhof and got the S Bahn number 31 to Harburg, and a short walk later we found it... Now notice something about this? It was open, lights on, music on, but no staff or customers... Staff saw us milling about inside but made no attempt to talk to us or indeed inform us of what to do... After a while we left rather disappointed by this lack of good form I expect from the Germans and it was really a wasted journey in the end... Right shame...So we headed back to Hamburg proper as we needed to catch our train towards Soltau for the final part of the holiday, Heide Park... And we got our MetroNOM (no joke) train over to Buchholz (Nordheide) for our connecting train to Soltau... On our way from Hamburg we realised that we had a 3 minute connection time between the trains, and our NOM arrived at platform 1, whilst the next train left from platform 11...This naturally, caused worry, until we reached Buchholz and we saw that, for some reason, 1 and 11 were right next door to each other... Confusion aside, we still ran to get on the train and enjoy the nice long sedate journey over to Soltau... Upon arrival, we waited for a taxi (as Heide is rather far away from the station, there is a bus but that is rather infrequent in non-peak hours), and eventually we arrived at the Hotel Port Royal...Gonna end this part of the report here and keep all Heide together, which will include a review of the hotel and of course, Krake... Woo...

All aboard the party boat! There were trains going around, and can go from the bottom of the Switzerland area alllllll the way through to the Scandinavian bit right on the opposite end... But they are definitely not the main draw of this place... FUNFAIR!!! And yes, with added working credit! Just to show how far down this place went... A fair few of the rides moved as well... They have gone all international as well, with a massive American area... Of course, they had to have a recreation of Hamburg as well... Watching this bloke fix sommat was just as impressive, as he was attempting to not knock anything over... Another cred, though it is a mixture of Manhattan Express and Speed in Vegas... Urgh... Hell yeah Pixar! Oh yeah, they also have space shuttle launches here... I love this short... So much...

Day 3 – Hamburg Part 2So after our night in the business style Travelodge, we checked out, left our bags and then descended upon the city once again... This was across the road from the hotel, a picture was indeed required... Good old fashioned translations going awry...Regardless of such buildings, it was time to get back on the U-Bahn... After the quick train journey to Baumwall (only a stop away from our journey yesterday), we sauntered through the construction site towards our destination, Miniatur Wunderland... Ah... Something’s wrong here... Yep, Merlin’s worldwide grasp is particularly strong in Germany, whilst we didn’t go in the Dungeons, it shared a few similarities to London, mainly with Labyrinth, the Judge, Traitor and Extremis... However some of the scenes interested me, such as the Haunted Library and some pirate’s execution... They do English tours as well which is quite a good idea, though I would love to do the tour in German cos of the interest in how amazing the accent would sound...Anyways, off to the Wunderland, which has a relatively steep looking price (for students it’s 9 euros) but when we went into the attraction (after having to put bags in a locker, again, very good idea) and saw this, we realised what we were paying for... Yep, this is one serious model railway... It goes through 2 floors, and several rooms with all different areas and with further plans to expand even MORE in the future... This is one serious piece of kit... With lots of interactive pieces as well to see, it was an absolute surprise and very worth the entrance fee... Scenes like the Flugtag reminded me very much of a Lego Miniland... Lots of little details and jokes dotted about to try and spot... Fully working concert... With camera flashes from the audience... Lots of PLCs... Each area had its own day/night alternation, and worked very well... This was their newest area, the working airport... Yes, the plane is coming into land whilst the other one is waiting... This was one bloody impressive area and I have no idea how they did it all... The sheer scale of this was just amazing...

Yeah, if one thing Dungeons taught me today was how surprisingly long it actually is... At least an hour long and actually worth the time spent...Plus, first time a staff member has picked up on my pass still being gold instead of blue... Top marks to you sir

Oh yes, damn those pesky commoners, being all... common and getting in the way of my suit as I meander around the park with my top hat and cane... Tally Ho!

Merlin making a brilliant decision by adding an attraction to somewhere else which will see a heavy amount of income in the Summer due to the Olympics?Great business decision...And people probs holiday regularly in Weymouth... It'll probs make some money...